


Safe

by Thuri



Series: Writing-Thuri Tumblr Prompts [3]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series), Thomas Sanders
Genre: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders - Freeform, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders - Freeform, Gen, Logic | Logan Sanders - Freeform, M/M, Morality | Patton Sanders - Freeform, Non-Sexual Age Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-24 01:13:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12001842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thuri/pseuds/Thuri
Summary: Virgil finds a new coping mechanism.





	1. Chapter 1

It starts by accident. 

Virgil’s coming down from a panic attack, trying to ignore the lingering fear skittering under his skin and making it feel too tight. He doesn’t really want to risk seeing the others, but his room is too oppressive even for him right now, so he risks venturing out as far as the commons living room. By some stroke of luck, it’s empty, so he puts on cartoons and curls up on the couch, tugging a blanket over himself, and–after double-checking no one else is there–manifests his kitty cat plushie from his bed, tucking it under his chin and chewing absently on one black ear.

He gets lost in the adventures of Twilight Sparkle and her friends, letting the simple, low stakes problems of the My Little Ponies soothe away the last of his fears. He’s drifting, calm, comfortable, when the cushion beside him sinks down, and fingers start stroking through his hair. “You okay, kiddo?”

Virgil sighs, feeling too at peace to be ashamed. “Mmhmm.”

Patton drops a kiss on his forehead. “Mind if I join you?”

Virgil shakes his head, wrinkling his nose at the soft tickle of his hair against it. Patton chuckles and settles in close. Virgil doesn’t let himself think, just settles his head in Patton’s lap, humming softly when Patton keeps playing with his hair. “Feels good.”

“Glad to hear it,” Patton replies, not stopping, but trailing his fingers down to the nape of Virgil’s neck and back, sending delightful little shivers down his spine.

He giggles, turning his face to hide it against Patton’s leg. “Tickles.”

“Want me to stop?”

“Noooo…” It does tickle, but it’s nice. Like all of this. God, he’s glad it’s Patton who found him, not Roman. He’s not sure he would’ve been able to deal with that.

Patton chuckles again, but keeps up the gentle caress. Virgil never quite drifts off to sleep, but it’s almost more restful to lie here, feeling Patton’s touch, hearing the TV, feeling warm and heavy and safe.

They talk about it, afterward. Well, Patton makes him talk about it. Virgil would’ve let it lie on his own, but Patton looks at him with big puppy eyes and Virgil can’t refuse. And it’s embarrassing, and awkward, but it ends with Patton offering to do it again, any time Virgil wants. He just has to ask.

It takes until his next panic attack to actually bring himself _to_ ask, but he manages finally. And Patton is immediately there for him, holding him close, telling him he’s a good boy, and why don’t they go have a treat?

More cartoons, with ice cream, this time. And it’s…it’s really good. Virgil rolls his eyes, when Patton makes plane noises with the ice cream spoon, but he still opens his mouth obediently, and still feels strangely warm inside when Patton grins at him after.

The time after that, Logan walks in on them. Fear claws its way up Virgil’s throat, he whimpers and burrows into Patton’s side, hating the hot shame welling up inside him, flushing his face and making his hands go numb and cold.

But Logan doesn’t judge, doesn’t tease. Instead he asks very politely if he can join them, and even offers Virgil his lap when Patton gets up to make them dinner. Virgil can’t quite relax at first, but Logan’s fingers know just where to press in against his temples and skull to ease all tension, and soon he’s drifting again.

The next morning, there’s a teddy bear with a bowtie sitting in front of his door, and he has an e-mail from Logan about the benefits of age play for stress relief, including an indexed reference list. Virgil snorts softly, reading it, his eyes filling with tears. God, he loves that dork.

When Roman finds out, it’s almost anticlimactic. He’s simply jealous that Virgil’s been watching cartoons without him, insists he get a turn to have Virgil in his lap, and tries to argue with Logan that he should get the next few times, since he’s missed out.

Once they all know, it’s easier to ask for it, the days that Virgil needs the extra comfort, the extra care. He doesn’t have to hide alone, now, when he has a nightmare. Instead he can go to one of them, crawl into bed with them, and be safe. He doesn’t have to fight off the negative demons of his own mind, he can go to them and ask for comfort, for help…all without actually having to dredge up the ugliness of his thoughts.

No, instead he can just crawl into their laps, holding a stuffed animal, and just…just be. They’ll take care of him, tell him they love him, tell him he’s _good_.

And that beats out the ugliness every time.

It starts out by accident. It ends up being amazing.


	2. Nightmares

The sound of his heavy oaken door sliding closed rouses Roman from sleep. He blinks away the remains of his dreams, sitting up and stretching. “Hullo?” he calls.

There’s no immediate answer, but a moment later the heavy bed curtains to his right twitch once, then again. He reaches over to pull them open, the dying light from his heavy stone fireplace enough to see by.

Virgil is standing there, his face smudged and tear-streaked, his hands hidden in his hoodie sleeves, a bedraggled stuffed cat held tightly in his arms. He sniffles, reaching up to rub at his face with one cloth covered hand and Roman’s heart melts in his chest. 

“Virgil, love…” Roman reaches out and Virgil clambers up onto the bed, pressing in tightly against him. He’s shaking, freezing, his hair sweat-soaked. Roman wishes he didn’t know what that means, wishes he could somehow fight the terrors that so often visit Virgil in the night. “Oh darling…you’re frozen. Under the blankets with you.”

Virgil sniffles again, but pulls away long enough for Roman to pull back the blankets, lean back against the headboard and settle Virgil in his lap. Roman lights the fairy lights twined about the canopy of his bed with a gesture and a thought, the soft light banishing the darkness.

“There,” he murmurs, as Virgil curls close, his face pressed against Roman’s neck, his thin body still shaking. “There, you’re safe, now. I’ve got you, love, and I’ll let no harm come to you.”

Virgil shivers, pressing in closer still. “S-scared,” he mumbles, his voice high, broken. 

“I know, dearheart,” Roman murmurs, rubbing his back. “I know. But it was a dream, and you’re safe, now. Look, we’re protected here,” he says, gesturing to the bed curtains around them, closing them off from the room. The rich crimson and gold brocade is dimmer in the soft light, but still warm and inviting. “Nothing can reach us, we’re completely hidden.”

Virgil sniffles again, but his shivers were gradually easing. “Promise?”

“I swear it to you,” Roman says firmly. He kisses Virgil’s forehead, brushing his bangs back from his eyes. “Nothing can get to you here.”

Virgil looks up, searching his eyes for a long moment, before sighing and relaxing against him. “‘Kay,” he murmurs, shifting to tuck his cat under his chin, already chewing on one tattered ear.

Roman blinks rapidly, hugging him close for a long moment, almost overcome. Virgil fights so hard, for Thomas, for all of them…and he faces untold horrors when he should be allowed to rest from the rigors of his day. It isn’t fair, and Roman again wishes there was something more he could do.

But he can do this. He can hold Virgil, when he comes to him in the night. He can reassure him he is _safe_. And he can distract him, ease him back to a more restful sleep.

“Would you like to hear a story?” Roman asks, the question almost a formality. But Virgil nods.

“Yes, please,” he murmurs, almost too softly to be heard.

“Then hearken ye’ to the tale of a foolish king, a twice cursed witch, and a prince in disguise,” Roman began, spinning out an epic story of adventure, magic, and daring.

And if he barely had a chance to begin, before Virgil’s body grew heavy with sleep, before he went to his rest, safe and protected, Roman still had no complaints.


End file.
